


One Way Ticket to Santa Monica

by orphan_account



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Actress!Rachel, Alcohol, Alternate Universe, F/F, First Dates, First Meetings, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Skateboarding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 12:39:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15630849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Damn, girl! You actually are the dumbest fool having ever walked the boulevard."(Los Angeles!AU)Chloe tells Steph about meeting a girl on a boulevard in Hollywood. It's just another story for an evening at the bar, or is it?





	One Way Ticket to Santa Monica

"I tell you, I wanna be mad at Brooke, but now I kinda can't and that blows."

Chloe shook her head and brought the large glass of beer to her mouth. Los Angeles had taught her many things. One of these was the fact, that she'd been readily drinking dishwater all her life. Some hipster she forgot the name of made her try imports from Europe. At first she assumed it'd be just a fancy ass way for the bartender to get more money out of her pocket, but sadly for her wallet, she got addicted to the taste of proper beer almost immediately.

At least, the smooth bitterness helped a great deal in washing down her dilemma with Brooke a little.

On the other side of the small table, Steph was slouching in her chair. They had met through Chloe's job, a stagehand at one of the many concert halls in LA. Being part of a freelance stage tech crew, Steph was sometimes hired for support there, mostly whenever a bigger act decided to perform where Chloe was employed. They got along immediately. When they noticed, that they were frequenting the same bar in their free time, they've turned into good buddies. Sharing a preference for two particular things helped her relationship a lot: they were both into beanies and other girls.

"What happened?" Steph asked.

Chloe licked the leftover foam from her lips and put the now halfway filled glass back onto the table. "You know how much LA traffic sucks, right?" she said.

"Yeah," Steph smirked, "if you don't know the good routes!"

Getting upset would be absolutely fruitless, so Chloe just sighed and continued, "I told you about that new equipment renting business of ours the other day, you remember? Now me of all people had to get our stupid stuff back from that party in Hollywood."

Steph made a contemplative grimace, then made the connection. "Oh crap!" She scooted forward, grinning in anticipation. "Lemme guess. Brooke was supposed to get it."

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, "but the dumbass broke the main cable below the stage at the venue." Steph bit on her knuckles in response, "She tried to hook up the new light show and screwed up," Chloe was getting slightly agitated. Brooke was supposed to be the tech savvy of the two, and she couldn't even explain what had gone wrong. "The boss would fucking murder her if tonight's act had to play in the dark, you know what I'm saying?"

"Damn!" Steph took a sip of her own drink. Chloe only knew it was some kind of cocktail. "Did she fix it?" she asked.

"Well, so far I didn't get a call making me come to the venue on my free night," Chloe knocked on the table very lightly for good luck. Steph noticed the superstitious action and grinned almost invisibly. Chloe noticed though and slapped the air in front of Steph with her flat hand. Maybe she wouldn't ever hit her for real, but being made fun of her quirks was one of her pet-peeves. She forced herself to continue though. "Anyway, I guess she's still employed. He would've fired her immediately if she didn't get it repaired on time." Chloe's boss wasn't exactly terrible or a control freak, but he expected you to get the job done, and a dead stage would be... bad. Chloe shivered, feeling sudden sympathy towards Brooke, subconsciously rooting for her to have fixed the damage in time. She could be a headache sometimes, but she didn't deserve his wrath. "Steph, you witnessed yourself how that jackass deals with 'issues', didn't you?" Chloe said.

Steph cradled her free arm around her chest. Her eyes spelled at least similar shivers on her back to Chloe's. "Yeah, sadly." She adjusted her beanie, deciding to keep the conversation from digressing. "So she owes you now, right?"

"Damn sure she does!" A clap sounded when Chloe's hands met the table. "Although I'm kinda at odds now. If it wasn't for all this, I wouldn't have run into this chick." She made the last part sound purposefully insignificant.

Steph caught the little detail though. "Tell me more!" she demanded immediately, sitting up straight in the chair all of a sudden. Chloe couldn't help but cackle at the sudden change in her posture. She managed to hook her so hard.

"Close your mouth!" Chloe said, unable to do it in a serious manner though. "You're gonna drool a rainbow onto the table," she added, but it didn't help making it sound less ridiculous. Steph groaned at the allegory, rolling her eyes, but endured the laughter. After enough time had been lost to cheap amusement, Chloe noticed, that Steph was waiting for her to elaborate. "Yeah, so," she said, "She had this little feather hanging from her ear, matching my hair colour actually." Evidently, Steph loved these details, face lighting up right away. "What else? Oh, sparkling eyes! You wouldn't even believe how pretty those were," she smoothed her beanie, then glared at Steph. "Dude, I told you to quit gaping!"

"Oh, shut up!" Steph protested, comically noxious. It was all going according to plan, she had so much fun teasing the brunette, making her get all worked up, then poking little jabs at her. Now, she crossed her arms and just looked at Steph with a blank smile.

"Uhh..." Steph waited for Chloe to go on. Then, she realised what was happening. "No! Fuck. Don't shut up! Aargh, you suuck!" she groaned loudly, then started pleading, flailing her hands, "Chloe, keep going, pleease!"

Steph's beanie got swatted down, covering her eyes now. "You're so damn needy," Chloe said. Steph took the whole thing off her head, and redid her hair to put it back on properly. Chloe kept going, simply to shut up any possible complaints. "Anyway, the best thing wasn't even her looks. Seriously, I haven't seen anybody pull something so cool!" Steph was following every word like a someone hungry would be watching a loaf of bread. Still she managed to adjust her beanie perfectly in the meantime, the hair dropping behind her shoulders from the back of it. Chloe didn't even admire the display of multitasking, too engrossed in her own story. "We passed each other and it hit me like a baseball bat right into the face." Chloe looked at the ceiling, dreamily, "God, that was the best baseball bat I have ever had in my life..." A chortle ripped her out of her thoughts again, and she shot her opposite an offended glare. "Oh, choke on it!" she barked.

Immediately, Steph raised her hands in defense. "Sorry!" she said, keeping one hand in the air, getting her drink with the other one. Chloe rolled her eyes, but recognised the half-serious apology nevertheless. She took a sip from her own beverage as well, oiling her throat. Getting some time to think wasn't a bad idea either, since she realised that finding the proper terms for what she wanted to describe, presented itself to be a herculean task.

"So," Chloe attempted "I'm not good at describing smells, you know? But..." She made a scrunched up face, not completely sold on her upcoming effort. Steph nodded encouragingly, and so Chloe just jumped into the fire. "Do you know what it's like when you sit by the Santa Monica Pier at night, and it is about to start raining?" Steph nodded lightly in response. Wasn't too bad, Chloe assessed. "That, plus this..." Okay, it hadn't been bad, because that had been the easy part. She rubbed her chin, trying to figure out the proper way to put it. "This... very wild..." It was turning into a disaster, but then Chloe put her most seductive eyes on to underline the expression. "This 'come and get me, if you dare'-scent."

Dramatic pause.

Steph would have applauded, but she was holding herself back with all her composure. "Kinda challenging in a sense," Chloe finished, then buried her face in her hands, on the verge of utter embarrassment. That was surely not how smells worked, right? A fragrance did certainly not undress you with looks. "Do you know what I mean?" Chloe looked up again, vision a little blurry from rubbing her eyes too hard. "That sounded like it didn't make any sense."

"Perfect sense, Chloe!" Steph said calmly, "I know exactly what you mean." It seemed like Steph was looking right through Chloe, her mind trapped somewhere in her own imagination. However, a second later, she had returned back to reality. "Did you talk to her?" She nearly started squeaking in excitement.

Chloe was still recovering from looking almost stupid. "Yeah," she said, seeking rescue in the beer glass, which threatened to run empty.

Steph started an involuntary drum roll on the table top. "Oh god, tell me!" she said, absolutely unable to hold in all the hype building up inside of her. Chloe just laughed. Some people got excited when an expensive sports car drove by, and others started gushing over discovering a particularly catchy song. Steph's case were stories about hot girls, and she would melt into soup as soon as she got wind of one of these. It worked every damn time. Chloe decided to finally show some mercy and finish the story, before Steph would start jumping like an eight-year-old on a birthday.

"So, after I passed her, I turned around and told her that I liked her 'sexy smelling perfume'."

Steph held her face. She made no effort to hide the fact that she was beaming almost audibly.

"She stopped and turned around, which in hindsight was a blessing. I was yelling before, making sure she'd hear it," Chloe scratched her head, noticing all of that just now, "If she'd just walked on, I would've looked like the dumbest fool ever walking the boulevard."

Instead of making fun of Chloe, Steph's eyes grew so wide, they almost fell out.

Chloe continued. "She looked at me for like," she threw her hands up, attempting a guess, "I dunno, fifteen bazillion hours? Roughly?" Precise like a swiss watch... She shrugged. In the end it didn't matter. "Thank fuck I was still sweaty from hauling that stupid gear." It had been over a hundred degrees, she remembered. As much as California was beautiful, the summer just scorched the skin off your bones. "I'm not gonna lie, she was so breathtaking, she would've seen me become a sweat-fountain trying to handle it," Chloe said, looking at Steph, smirking again, "Kinda like you right now."

"What?" Steph wiped her brow automatically. Chloe fell into a hearty belly laugh. Earning herself a kick from under the table.

It took some time before Chloe caught herself again, and Steph had turned beet red in the meantime. "You should really see your face when you fall for my shit!" Chloe almost started laughing again, but the kicks to her shin became too painful to endure longer.

"Okay, ow, okay, I'll keep going!" Chloe said, pulling her legs back and taking the last chug from her beer. "So, finally she closes the distance. I thought I was prepared for anything, but then," she pulled her palms up in a preventive gesture, "I shit you not, she combed through her bag, telling me to look upwards." she mimicked the move. "I was so sure she'd smack me, but fuck it! I looked up into the sky anyways."

"Aaaand?" Steph leaned forward. One thousand horses wouldn't be able to pull her away from the story now.

"At first nothing. I almost thought she had just made me stand there like the absolute klutz, but the, and I quote the exact words." Chloe cleared her throat, trying to imitate the girl's voice "'Here, smell sexy with me, too!'" She sucked at imitations so hard, but she kept going. "Then I felt this light mist on my neck and..." both pairs of eyebrows climbed as high as they could in yet another contrived pause, "by now you should know what I smelled."

Not caring about her previous scoldings, Steph inhaled, gaping widely, corners of her mouth where her eyes belonged. Excited chirps escaped her throat. Chloe felt really good about herself. In a sense she wished that Steph could have seen the girl with her own eyes. Judging from her current reaction, she would have collapsed, and the heat would have had nothing to do with that at all.

Finally, the bundle of excitement had collected herself enough to speak. "When are you meeting her?" she asked, reaching for her drink.

"Uhh, what do you mean?" Chloe did not expect that question. "I'm not meeting anybody."

Steph choked on the sip of her cocktail, coughing horribly.

"You alright?" Chloe asked. She was about to get up and help Steph out, but a waving hand kept her down.

Finally, Steph got her coughs under control enough to speak in a pressed voice again. "Chloe, what happened afterwards?"

"Well," Chloe wasn't sure why Steph pushed onto the parts of the story, that happened past the punchline, "she looked at me, winked, put the bottle back into her bag and walked on." The best part was over, so Chloe had no idea how to tell this part in an interesting way.

"And you?" Steph was slowly getting her normal voice back.

"I..." Chloe tried to remember, "I grinned like a madman, then I went back to the truck and soldiered my way through the traffic again." Maybe it was time to shift the conversation a little before it got awkward. "Sometime you gotta teach me those routes of yours." Chloe winked. It was true. For some reason Steph always arrived on time, even during rush hours. Gaining insight on that secret of hers would make life in LA so much easier.

But Steph just started groaning like mad. Her face dropped hard and she started giving Chloe the double handed, forehead rubbing facepalm. Did she say something wrong? Was she making fun of her now? Was this retaliation for her jokingly expressed jabs? No that couldn't be it. Chloe couldn't figure this girl out and shook her head.

"Chloe... Argh," Steph grabbed her beanie, as if she wanted to tear it apart in frustration, "I don't believe this! How the hell can you be so damn clueless?" Her voice slid more and more into desperation.

"I don't understand," Chloe said, at her wit's end. This was supposed to be a fun story, now it was just getting weird.

"I can see that very clearly!" Steph took her beanie off once again, trying to calm herself by putting it back on. "What do you think that was all about?"

"Uhm, Cali-Girl being Cali?" Chloe guessed.

There was no beer in her glass to hide behind.

As if a wasp had stung her butt, Steph jumped up and started to get loud. "Cali-Girl being gay for your punk ass!" she blurted. Some people started turning around, but she did not seem to care, flailing her arms about. "She didn't just wave a rainbow flag right in front of your eyes. No! She noticed you are blind and pulled out her rainbow coloured baseball bat," Steph smacked her fist into her palm, "and whacked you like a piñata, expecting rainbow coloured confetti to pour out of your ass." It has been a while since Chloe had seen Steph getting so agitated. Last time she got annoyed over some new member in her tabletop group, but that had been tame compared to the scene she was making now. In general, Steph was not known to make a scene. "It could have been all rainbows..." As if she had run out of steam, Steph just waved the rest of her rant off, and sat back down. Chloe was not sure, whether she should say something, but Steph had one last thing to vent about apparently. "Damn, girl! You actually are the dumbest fool having ever walked the boulevard." She buried her face in her hands, growling in frustration.

Now was the time to say something, but Chloe did not know what to say. The message was clear, she should have asked the girl for a number or something. Sure, Steph could get really passionate about the subject, but after you have filled a truck with a bunch of incredibly unwieldy pieces of equipment in searing heat, you can't think very clearly anymore. Steph should really calm down here.

On the other hand, now that she thought about it, she did start to flirt with the gorgeous girl herself and let it just... wither.

Why was everything so complicated?

After having ordered another beer per hand gesture, some time passed in silence, before Steph said something again.

"Can you do me a favour? If you don't I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight."

Chloe was having her doubts judging the situation, so she just nodded.

"Describe the girl to me!" Steph demanded, "Don't leave any details out! I know a bit, but I need more."

The waiter came around with her beer, and she thanked him with a nod. Steph wasn't done with the topic yet. Maybe she wanted to find her and try her own luck? "Are you...?" Chloe started, but was interrupted immediately.

"No, this is business!" Steph donned her most serious glare. The smirk on Chloe's face died in realisation.

No Steph, please don't!

"I'm going to have to work my gay magic here," Steph said, shaking her head.

The choice of words put the smirk back onto Chloe's face. "Steph no!" she said, "I really don't need..."

A finger right in front of her face interrupted her yet again. "No excuses!" Steph said, "I can sense when the sparks are about to go off and I'll be damned if I don't make them into a blistering bonfire. Don't you dare second guess me in my expertise!"

Chloe didn't know why, but she felt extremely intimidated by the smaller woman.

* * *

 

"I literally told him! Don't tre-flip the seven! You can barely land the trick on flat ground!" Justin got agitated. That was unusual for a mellow soul like him. "So what does he do?" he continued, "he tre-flips the seven." Chloe inhaled sharply through her teeth. She couldn't skate for shit, but she could imagine the outcome. "The board shoots out from under him when he lands, and he falls on his ass." Trevor bit his finger with a pained grimace, obviously remembering the event very vividly. "Wouldn't be as bad, but he tried to catch himself with his arms instead of rolling it off." Justin grabbed his forehead, stupefied. "What a guy!" he finished the tale.

Okay, that turned out more painful, than Chloe had expected. She looked at her almost empty glass of beer. There was not much going on tonight. Maybe it's one of those days, where she can finally catch up on lost sleep, and such jazz, Chloe thought. Meeting Justin and Trevor, two relics that had made it out of Arcadia Bay, just like her, certainly brought some spice into the evening, but at some point the skating stories would start to get a little dull for her.

If nothing happened until the glass was empty, she'd be going home, she decided.

"I tell you, Cali skaters are crazy!" Justin said, "Now it's just Trevor and me again. That guy is gonna be in a cast for a while now."

Seeing people from her hometown made her feel sentimental for some reason. Not something Chloe experienced often, especially because she hated the Bay. Small and boring, there was nothing to do there except rotting away. Maybe the alcohol had made her feel like that. She decided to just roll with it. "Ever thought about going back to Oregon?" she asked.

Trevor answered immediately, "and do what? Skate parking lots littered with pebbles again?" He looked at Justin, then back at Chloe. "Nah man, ain't gonna happen."

At least she wasn't the only one happy to have gotten out of that shithole.

"If anything we're gonna give the other cities a spin," Justin added. "There ain't only LA in California, right? I heard there are dope skate parks in the bay area."

"Cali girls, too," Trevor winked at Justin. Chloe laughed. Finally they dug up a topic she could take part in, although she was not sure whether talking with boys about girls would be the same as with girls. Maybe she should try that sometime. See how it goes. Steph was a great conversational partner in that topic, but why should she not expand her horizon a bit? She realised, she sounded like her mum to herself.

No, that day was not today, Chloe decided. Her head wasn't clear enough anymore.

She finished her drink and her mind somehow caught onto the previous conversation with Steph. The woman was so hell-bent on finding that Hollywood-girl somehow, Chloe could only play along. Steph told her she'd take about one or two days to either find her, or deem her M.I.A.. That was fine by Chloe. As much as that girl exerted a magnetic pull on her, she wasn't sure if meeting her again through a search party was the best idea. Fortunately, chances were slim that Steph would find her anyway. She didn't even have a name.

Fortunately?

"Yeah," Chloe said, then frowned in confusion, when a shot of Jägermeister appeared in front of her. Two more glasses with the dark liquid were put in front of Justin and Trevor. Chloe looked around in confusion, she didn't order any more drinks as far as she could remember. Justin pointed to himself, clearing up the situation. He had bought the round. She looked at the shot, contemplating.

Why the hell not, actually. I'm gonna crash into the sheets soon anyway, she thought, watching the other guys at the table.

When none of them made a move to touch their beverages, Chloe decided to take the wheel. She lifted her glass into the air, waiting for Justin to take his last opportunity at making a toast. He didn't, the amateur, so she did it for him.

"To Cali girls," she said.

They grabbed their respective shot and raised their glasses as well. "To Cali girls!" they echoed.

She wasn't even finished pouring the drink into herself, when taps on her shoulder caught her attention. She swallowed, and turned around to look into Steph's face. "What?" she asked.

"Got somebody on the phone for you," Steph said, extending said phone towards Chloe.

No, screw that. Chloe was too drunk to work. She had blocked all calls from the venue, including Brooke, for a good reason. Even if the stage had caught fire and half of LA was burning because of it, Chloe wouldn't budge from her plan of dropping onto the soft mattress in her apartment. "Well, they can wait until tomorrow. I'm in the middle of something called 'after hours', and hella buzzed. You can tell them that." She turned back around, putting the empty shot back onto the table.

Steph didn't go away. "Are you really sure that's your final answer?" Chloe turned around, slightly pissed.

"Fine, I'm gonna tell them myself," she said. She looked at the phone, hoping to see Brooke's name, not the one of her boss. Drama wasn't on Chloe's guest list for the evening anymore. She honestly just wanted to sleep at this point.

Since when did a Rachel Amber work at the venue?

"Who the hell is..." Steph winked at her slyly. Suddenly, Chloe felt like she was sobering up. "Y-you said one or two days!"

Steph used a finger from her free hand to close Chloe's gaping mouth by the chin. "Well, I underestimated myself." Then she put on a serious stare. "Now quit being a wuss and get on the damn phone!"

* * *

 

Chloe had run out of profanities to describe the situation.

She walked up to Steph, and tapped her with the phone, holding it out for her.

"How'd it go?" Steph asked, taking the phone back and putting it into her pocket.

Chloe grumbled, then settled on a set of words. "That talk just complicated everything."

Steph donned a genuinely empathic look, pursing her lips. "Aw damn. I was really rooting for you."

Well shit, this was going to be an absolute disaster.

"See, actually..." Chloe started fidgeting with her hands. Not many things made the punk nervous beyond control, but her palms started becoming seriously sweaty. Not good. "Say Steph, can I ask you for some... rather immediate advice?" she asked.

Steph made a bewildered face. "Spill it." she demanded, keeping her voice guarded.

Again, the eternal search for the correct words. "You do know how to get around in LA quickly, right?" Chloe asked, "Avoiding traffic and that kinda stuff."

"Yeah," Steph confirmed, now frowning, "what's the matter?"

Scratching her neck did not help her tension at all. There was no way to chicken out now. Not without looking like a complete dumbass. "I... may or may not have to be in Santa Monica in like an hour," she said. Steph's eyes widened in confusion, as if she had to solve a ten thousand piece puzzle with her hands tied on her back. "For a date," Chloe added.

Steph's jaw got unhinged and she used the whole area of her gaping mouth to inhale air as fast and sharply as she could, making a brief howling sound. "Oh my god!" she said, then nodded furiously "Yes, yes! I've got you!"

Chloe didn't have the nerves to notice Steph getting out of breath. "Do I look any presentable?" She looked down at herself. A black shirt with the sleeves ripped off, advertising a corn based beverage on the front, ripped and patched up jeans, and her usual pair of boots. She adjusted her beanie, only to get frustrated, then ripping it off her head and putting it back on. "She's gonna think I'm some clown..."

Steph grabbed Chloe by the shoulders. "You look perfect!" she said, then threw herself at the taller girl, unable to hold in the excitement. "This is so magical!" she squeaked.

There was no way to get away from a Steph in a sea of bliss. Also, the embrace calmed Chloe's nerves a little, so she just hugged back.

Steph unhooked herself from Chloe after a while. "I'm so happy for you!" she said, beaming brighter than the sun.

"Now let's get you to Santa Monica!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta [Randy_sensei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randy_sensei).
> 
> The fic was prompted by some random post I found on tumblr.
> 
> Chloe and Steph strike me as best-buddy material, and I definitely headcanon that. I hope you've had fun reading another random piece of Amberprice with some Steph sprinkled in (actually the other way round lol).


End file.
